Monday, February 17, 2014

Editorial: Godzilla and the dinosaurs of Toho

Today we’re not going to do a movie review, but we are going
to look at a popular movie figure that has represented dinosaurs in his own way
for decades. Yes, Godzilla. I’m a big fan of the Godzilla series-yes, only the
first and maybe Godzilla vs Destoroyah can be taken with an iota of
seriousness, but they’re entertaining sci-fi/fantasy movies that I enjoy
watching. I’m an attendee at the largest Godzilla convention, G-Fest in Rosemont, Illinois,
and I always have fun going.

The question always comes up; is Godzilla a dinosaur? Well,
sort of. You see, the Godzilla script from Tomoyuki Tanaka’s first story
outline to Ishiro Honda’s shooting screenplay never clearly defined Godzilla as
a dinosaur. The name Gojira comes from the idea of the monster being a sort of
gorilla-shaped whale. Godzilla, was in fact, very much inspired by King Kong as
a monster itself. Tanaka, Honda, and special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya
all were huge King Kong fans, and simply made Kong bigger and a metaphor for
horror of war and the devastation of nuclear weapons. So ultimately Godzilla
has more to do with his gorilla archnemesis (at least in 1962) than with the
dinosaurs Kong fought.

It was only a few weeks before the suit was made before
Godzilla was defined as a dinosaur. In the film itself, Dr. Yamane describes
Godzilla as a prehistoric sea monster mutated by atomic testing. Tsuburaya did
use dinosaurs as his models for the final suit, however- the overall look was
inspired by the big carnivore Tyrannosaurus, already a popular favorite, the
dorsal fins were inspired by the unique Stegosaurus, both instantly familiar
and very alien-looking, and the posture of the hands, tail and body were inspired
by Louis Dollo’s still-unopposed reconstruction of Iguanodon as a kangaroo-shaped
biped.Thus, while no one in the film
sees Godzilla as a dinosaur, everyone in the audience can.

Other Toho monsters (daikaiju is the preferred term) are
both explicitly or implicitly dinosaurs or prehistoric reptile. While the giant
flying reptile Rodan is not only named after Pteranodon but also identified as
such in the film, the gliding amphibious monster Varan is never clearly stated
as anything but some prehistoric beastie. Varan comes from the scientific name
for monitor lizard, itself coming from the Arabic word for the big fierce
lizards of North Africa. Anguirus, the second
prehistoric Toho Ltd monster and Godzilla’s first enemy, is not only said to be
a mutant Ankylosaurus but the name Angiras is a corruption of Ankylosaurus the
same way Radon is for Pteranodon.Baragon, the villain of the Toho film Frankenstein Conquers the World
(in which the title event does not happen but a mutated, giant Frankenstein monster
does run around Japan) is not clearly described and is named only very late in thefilm, is supposed to be a dinosaur that
survived the mass extinction by burrowing underground. The name is never
explained and the monster is never associated with any dinosaur in particular.
In the film King Kong Escapes, Kong kills the requisite theropod, never named
on film but promotional material identifies it as Gorosaurus (presumably named
after the tyrannosaur Gorgosaurus). Rodan, Varan, Anguirus, Gorosaurus and
Baragon appear as supporting roles to Godzilla in 1968 classic Destroy All
Monsters. Finally, in Godzilla’ last film before the gap between 1975 and
1984,Godzilla confronts not only his
rebuilt mechanical duplicate, but also a mind-controlled sea dinosaur
Titanosaurus. Titanosaurus is a poorly known Indian sauropod from the late
Cretaceous, but the Toho Titanosaurus is a biped with a long dorsal fin
stretching from the head down the back and a tail that springs open to unfurl a
wide fan that the monster uses to create hurricane winds. In the more sci-fi
oriented films since 1975, no new dinosaurs have appeared with Godzilla.

Godzilla and friends have interesting traits of both real
life animals and completely fictional monsters. Godzilla himself, in an
entertaining, tongue in cheek paper by paleontologist Ken Carpenter, has been
identified as a ceratosaur. Ceratosaurs are theropods initially common
worldwide in the Jurassic period but went extinct in North America and Asia in the Jurassic extinction. Godzilla is classified
as a Ceratosaur for the distinctive traits of a short, deep head, an overbite,
dorsal plates (albeit much bigger proportionally than those of real
ceratosaurs), four-clawed hands, and a deep tail. In fact, Robert Bakker has
come to the conclusion that Ceratosaurus itself may have been semi-aquatic to
avoid competing with the big predator Allosaurus, and likewise Cretaceous
ceratosaurs (The Abeliosaurs) like Rugops and Kryptopshave been found in swampy areas.

Anguirus is only superficially ankylosaurian. Instead of a
series of interlocking osteoderms (bone plates), Ankylosaurus has one large
spiky plate. The tail is flexible and its spines are in no order around the
circumference, unlike the symmetrical spikes (in Nodosaurs) or stiff club (in
Ankylosaurs) of ankylosaurs. The head is long with a crocodile-like snout, unlike
any ankylosaur. There is a crown of small spikes on the head and a stout nasal
horn on the snout, both of which are more ceratopsian than Ankylosaur. The
posture is splaying rather than upright most of the time, with long, clawed
front legs and longer back legs that are used for bipedal lunges and
leaps.Finally, and most significantly,
the jaws are full of sharp teeth and armed with a pair of mandibular fangs,
unlike anything remotely ankylosaur. If not for the horns, plate, and spikes,
Anguirus looks more like a Permian or Triassic synapsid or “mammal-like
reptile”

Rodan’s bipedal stance, twin horns, armored torso, short,
toothy beak and grasping claws are all relics of how people used to think of
pterosaurs. Pteranodon would have been a quadruped with a single long thin
crest, long toothless beak (the very name Pteranodon means “winged without
teeth”), a furry torso, and small flat feet. By the standards of popular
culture of the 50s, Rodan is the most accurate of the prehistoric kaiju, but
now is the most dated.

Baragon’s long ears, short face, nose horn, armored back and
quadrupedal stance (like Anguirus, long back legs are used for limited
bipedalism and long jumps) are chimerical to say the least. Some dinosaurs
burrowed, some had armored plates, others had nose horns and other had sharp
teeth, but none were ever combined, much less in the case of Baragon. While
Baragon looks prehistoric, that combination of traits is less realistic than
any other Toho kaiju. The long ears are especially hard to place.

Varan looks more lizardlike, with a short head, a line of
spines going from the dead down to the tail,aquatic nature, and standard claws and teeth. The most dinosaurian of
Varan’s characteristics is bipedalism. Varan also has a skin membrane attached
to its limbs allowing for long glides across the landscape. The membrane is
attached like a flying squirrel, however, not like the extended ribs of the
lizard Draco volans or like the wing membranes of the pterosaurs. The closest
prehistoric reptile to this method of flying is the bizarre reptile
Sharovipteryx, which had a skin membrane attaching its legs to its tail, a sort
of reverse pterosaur.

Far more conventional is Gorosaurus, which has the same
kangaroo posture given to Theropods since the 1880s. The large head and short
tridactyl limbs clearly identify it as a theropod. The long, nearly triangular
head doesn’t fit any theropod family in particular and could easily be either
Tyrannosaur or Carnosaur. However, the intent is that he’s a Tyrannosaur,
especially since he plays the same role that Maurice Delgado and Willis
O’briens Tyrannosaurus did in the original King Kong movie. Amusingly, Toho
took Louis Dollo’s kangaroo pose for bipedal dinosaurs (with a little bit of 19th
century bouncing theropods) and made it into a battle tactic; Gorosaurus downs
both Kings Kong and Ghidorah by rearing back on the long, muscular tail and
kicking out with both legs.

Titanosaurus is an interesting case. The fully aquatic habit
and long fin-ears are reminiscent of the British Godzilla knock-off Gorgo, but
the musculata breastplate is pure fantasy, and the long narrow head, long neck,
and fins are all new and creative. Ironically, Spinosaurus turned out to be
sauropod-sized, with a long narrow snout and a tall dorsal fin and was most
likely semiaquatic, so you could easily argue Titanosaurus as a Spinosaur.Of course, in the 1970s, Spinosaurus was only
thought of as a carnosaur with a back fin, so it proves to be complete
coincidence.

I think it says something when no original dinosaur kaiju
have been made since, and the most popular of Godzilla’s prehistoric co-stars,
Rodan, has only appeared twice since 1968. Dinosaurs have recovered under the
Dinosaur Renaissance, but not kaiju movies and not in fiction. That’s the
interesting thing-dinosaur fiction has revived, but only in a few contexts. I
think next week I’ll cover that trend.

Tetrapod Zoology did a fun little article on the physiology
of Godzilla http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2010/11/01/science-of-godzilla-2010/

About Me

Hi everyone! You may know me already, but 99% of you won't. I've decided to make a blog for myself. I'm a anthropology student who has returned to his original passion for palaeontology. Ever since I was little, I've been fascinated with the weird and wonderful animals that have inhabited our planet and I've made this blog to keep this in my mind and hopefully in yours. Most people blog about their interests, and while I've got a range of interests-see history and anthropology above, not to mention zoology, astronomy, art, cooking, science fiction and fantasy films and literature, and a myriad of others, the one I want to do for a living is the study of Earth's ancient past.

On this blog I'll review papers, talk about fossils, museums, and taxa, review art, film, literature, and our culture's view of paleontology, and share memories and insights. I've been inspired by the far better blogs of professional palaeontologists, and I'll share them as time goes on. I'm also open to requests and questions of opinions, the latest palaeo news, and discussions with other fans informal and professional.

I think this is going to have fun, and I'm hoping my readers will have just as much fun.

Copyright: All media and print reviewed belongs to the owners and publishers. Likewise, all art used for this blog belongs to their artists. This is a non-profit blog for education and entertainment.